Gala reception inspires more than 200 guests
Inventor of the Mobile Robotic Fulfillment System inducted into the Logistics Hall of Fame. FERNRIDE founder Hendrik Kramer receives the Logistics Leader of the Year Award 2024. Humanitarian organization Strategies for Northern Development from Kenya accepts Lynn C. Fritz Medal for Excellence in Humanitarian Logistics.
Huge cheers and thunderous applause in the Erich Klausener Hall of the Federal Ministry of Digital and Transport in Berlin: Mick Mountz (59), Dr. Peter Wurman (59) and Prof. Dr. Raffaello D'Andrea (57), the three founders of Kiva Systems, have been officially inducted into the Logistics Hall of Fame. More than 200 international guests from business, science, non-governmental organizations and politics honored the achievements of the inventors of the Mobile Robotic Fulfillment System in intralogistics, which enables numerous e-commerce companies to make same-day, efficient and error-free deliveries of goods with the help of autonomous mobile robots (AMR).
Hartmut Höppner, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport Affairs, praised the achievements of Mountz, Wurman and D'Andrea in his laudatory speech: “The mobile transport robots make shipping more efficient and safer. They transport the goods in small racks between the storage areas and the picking stations to avoid long walking distances and accident-prone transportation with forklift trucks. The Mobile Robotic Fulfillment System facilitates on-time delivery, which is becoming increasingly important in times of booming e-commerce. This also impressed and convinced the international jury of the Logistics Hall of Fame.”
In conventional logistics centers, employees had to walk up to 15 kilometers a day to find the products on the shelves. With the Mobile Robotic Fulfillment System, stocks are consolidated in the middle of the warehouse instead. The employees are located at picking stations around the perimeter. As soon as an order is received, the mobile transport robots are activated to retrieve the correct mini-rack and bring it to an employee who places the ordered products in a shipping carton. The decision on the trio's entry into the Logistics Hall of Fame was made in the summer by a jury of 70 renowned personalities from business, science, politics and the media from 13 nations.
The 29-year-old Hendrik Kramer's recognition with the 'Logistics Leader of the Year Award 2024', sponsored by STILL, was also met with great enthusiasm by the audience. Kramer, CEO and co-founder of FERNRIDE, had established an innovative automation solution for the mobility of commercial vehicles on the market, which makes it possible to move trucks without a driver in a hybrid system called “Human-Assisted Autonomy”. “What Hendrik Kramer has already achieved today is extraordinary. But one thing stands out for me in particular: this uncompromising will to change the world, but even more so the clarity with which he sees automation as the only possible way to achieve this,” emphasized Frank Mueller, Senior Vice President Sales & Service Business Development at STILL, in his laudatory speech. “For us, as the sponsors of this award, he speaks from the heart.”
Lynn C. Fritz Medal awarded for Excellence in Humanitarian Logistics
The Lynn C. Fritz Medal for Excellence in Humanitarian Logistics was awarded for the second time at the 2024 Berlin Gala Reception: This year, the medal, sponsored by the Californian Fritz Institute, went to the Kenyan aid organization Strategies for Northern Development (SND). The organization was honored for its exemplary pioneering work in the “Horn of Africa Extreme Weather Response” project in northern Kenya from April 2022 to August 2024, in which those responsible developed a strategy to provide those in need with fast, secure and sustainable access to everyday products using electronic vouchers and multi-purpose cash assistance via cell phone.
“It should be emphasized that those in need can largely decide for themselves how much money they invest in food, education, medical care or the purchase of young animals for their herds, for example,” said Mitsuko Mizushima, Chief Logistics Officer at the Fritz Institute in San Francisco, in her laudatory speech, praising the outstanding achievement. “Those in need can apply for help anonymously, so they don't have to queue. In times of need, they retain their dignity,” said Mizushima. As part of the project, more than 1,200 households affected by drought and flooding in the Marsabit district received the help they needed. SND was supported by the humanitarian organization Oxfam.
The Lynn C. Fritz Medal for Excellence in Humanitarian Logistics is awarded annually to humanitarian organizations and their partners for outstanding logistics projects. The international prize is awarded by the Logistics Hall of Fame. It is sponsored by the Fritz Institute in the USA.
